It may not seem like much, but this is the beginning of the strip's return - a small disturbance in the upper part of the clouds, foreshadowing an abundance of spots and eddies that will appear all around the giant planet
Earlier this year, when Jupiter's South Equatorial Belt (SEB) disappeared, researchers asked amateur astronomers to call them if it returned. The strip has already come and gone in the past, they say, so you have to wait until you see the beginning of the return. This may be happening now.
After a few months of quiet in the southern equatorial region of Jupiter, a white plume begins to burst through the top of the clouds, where the strip is supposed to be. Christopher Gu from the Philippines took the photo on November 9.
It may not seem like much, but this is the beginning of the return of the strip - a small disturbance in the upper part of the clouds, foreshadowing an abundance of spots and eddies that will appear all around the giant planet. Among the things that confuse the researchers - Tzedek has developed a new brown belt.
Follow-up observations by researchers in the US, Japan, and the Philippines confirmed the existence of the plume but also showed that it is rapidly brightening. In fact on November 12, it is the brightest point on Jupiter, in wavelengths ranging from infrared to ultraviolet.
"This plume is so energetic that we can expect with certainty that it will develop into the return of the southern band" says John Rogers, director of the Jupiter Department at the British Astronomical Society. "The return of the southern strip is a spectacularly beautiful event so we can expect impressive and rapid changes in the disturbances during the next three months."
Experienced planetary photographers are asked to follow the developments. If the process starts, the new strip will be visible even with simple amateur telescopes, he said. You should wait and see.
Thanks to Arches from Rotter for their help in preparing the news.
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The title is misleading. This is not a ring but a band in the atmosphere. Although Jupiter's ring system is not as magnificent as that of Saturn, nor even as that of Uranus, it is definitely separate from its atmosphere.
What does the plume affect? Why is it so important to follow her?